Artist Reception at Da Vinci’s Ristorante Italiano

I’d like to start with a picture of this wall at Da Vinci’s, because between the paintings and the flag there are 5 European countries represented. Italy, France, the Netherlands, England, and Belgium.

Every time I go, their tables are immaculately arranged, and the napkins are folded better than my dress pants. We drank wine and ate bread and cheese and as if that wasn’t good enough then they brought out pizzas. Thin crust, mozzarella, garlic cloves, ricotta… Sorry, I’m drooling on my keyboard.

Many thanks to Elyse, Jess C, Andrew, Holly, Emily, Josh, Jeff, Rob, Shane, and Bill for being there. I didn’t want to interrupt everyone to take the picture, since half the table was engaged in conversation and the other half had a card game going on. To continue the international theme of the afternoon, I brought a deck of cards I picked up in Brussells. Souvenier cards, so of course they have pictures of a well known Brussells statue –Manneken Pis– and every picture has him dressed in a different costume. Go ahead, say “Manneken Pis” out loud and then google it. I’ll wait.

Some of the costumes are cultural, like the Japanese kimono or the Folkloric costume of Quebec. Some are specific or esoteric, like Crossbow Marksman Notre-Dame du Sablon or the Club of Moustaches. There are some occupational ones like Bee-keeper or Luggage carrier. I think my favorite is Ambiorix. Google that, too. I did.

Speaking of things I did… A while ago I posted a very early sneak peek at a painting I started and I still haven’t put up the finished product. Not that I’d forgotten or that I was lazy or something. See, the paint was still tacky when I took it to show at River Organics. What you might call Brand Spankin’ New.

as-yet untitled stained glass/clocky thing

When I saw this hexagonal canvas at my favorite art store, I quite literally pounced. I hoarded my treasure carefully with my other rectangular (boring) canvases and took a lot of time deciding what I wanted to paint on it. I had several ideas. Lucky for me, this wasn’t my only chance. I saw a couple more hexagonal canvases there the other day. I didn’t buy one, and I fleetingly considered hiding one somewhere behind a shelf I could come back for later. But they were up where only tall people would find them anyway so I didn’t bother. 😉